Stay Strong, My Annie
by Nightlock Ink
Summary: I'm Annie Cresta. I have been reaped.


The sensation is like floating. I've become one with the water, my auburn waves illuminating my face in the moment of silence before the sun rises. All you can hear is the waves softly lapping against the shore and my slow, soft breaths.

All is calm, all is still. His voice breaks the silence surrounding me. My bubble of peace.

"You're swimming, Annie!" Finnick says. He engulfs me in a salty, wet hug. And for a moment, it feels like it used to, like it always was. His heart beats in my ear, and like old times, he starts to braid my hair in a little halo around my head. He smiles at me as we both release, and I feel like he's 11 again, both of us to busy that by next year, he would be deemed old enough to die. And in a few years, I would proceed.

3 years until he was 14.

3 years until he was reaped.

3 years until he would win.

3 years until everything changed.

He looks and me and hugs me again. "Stay safe, Annie Cresta." I can feel his warm breath tickle my ear. "Don't get yourself reaped."

His tone is light and airy, but I can tell he's all serious. I can tell he's on the verge of tears. But of course, he leaves, because the famous Finnick Odair doesn't cry.

But Annie Cresta does.

I sit there in the sand staring at the waves through my tears as they tickle my blue and green polished toes.

My eyes match the sea, not only in color, but now it seems in weight, and I feel like I'm drowning. Not in the ocean, but in everything. From my hair to my toes, I feel submerged and it's both strange and terrifying.

I hate it. I struggle to be released from the stare of everything, everyone.

I check my watch. The sea shells tell me it is 8:00. An hour 'till the reaping.

I feel like a child staring at that watch, not knowing how it works. I shake it off.

"I am a child." I tell myself. But in Panem, children are prepared for slaughter.

I walk away and catch a glimpse of myself in a puddle from the previous night's rain. My blue-green eyes are afraid, and my messy red-brown hair trails down my back. Freckles dust my pale skin.

I do not look like a child. I do not look like an adult. I do not look like a child, I look like a baby animal, scared of everything. It's own shadow. The whole world.

That is not what I see. It is what I am.

The walk to my home from there is short and I swing the door open upon arrival.

"Hey Fishgirl!" My brother Adrian, squawks. I'm usually knows as "Aqua Annie" or "Swimmy" because I'm the only person in my family who knows how to swim (or is learning how to, at least).

I chose to ignore him. Taking the steps up to my room, I think. My brother is 17, and no one really takes out tesserae. He has a lot of slips. A lot.

The lottery is full of 12 year olds this year. I vaguely remember most of my friends bravely boasting about a new brother or sister.

The odds are in my favor. I'm only 14.

Suddenly, I remember that Finnick was 14 in his games.

Quickly, I brush that thought away. Optimism is key.

I braid my hair into two parts on the sides of my head, and throw on a sundress over my swimsuit. It's embroidered with little waves with even smaller fish swimming in them. It was my mother's

I also slip on my father's old leather bracelet. It's beat up and worn, and you can just barely make out the words on it. He was going to give it to me on my 8th birthday. He "died" a matter of hours before he could give it to me. I trace my fingers over each word.

_Stay strong, my Annie _

_Whenever I read this, I know he's coming back. Mother too. He'd hug me and his scratchy beard would tickle my chin and he's smell like he always does…. Fresh air. _

_Mother would smile and tell me I'm a wisp of a thing and her long blond hair would spread onto my shoulders when I hugged her. _

_No mater what anyone says, my parents are not dead._

_They were in a shipwreck. _

_But they are alive. If only I could find them._

_I barely make it to the square before Mayor Rosecrest started his long, snore inducing speech. _

"_Madam, you cannot enter the-" I interrupt the fuming Capitol attendant._

"_Annie Cresta, 14." I state, slipping past him._

"_YOU NEED A FINGER PRICK!" He squeals, waving his stubby yellow arms around. _

_Again ignoring a comment directed at me, I find a spot in the crowd, where my friend Waverly greets me. She's 14, like me, but looks 25 and acts 3. _

"_How are you?" I whisper._

"_Hi Annie! Nice to see you, you look pretty. I really like the fish on your dress. Oh, look! There's Finnick on stage! He's ADORABLE! Wait, aren't you friends with him? Do you have his address, his number? Waverly Odair sounds so nice! Doesn't it? We'd get married and have 14 kids, and one of them will be named Annie, after you of course! Annie Odair sounds pretty, but not in a marrying way, because he's your best friend, next to me! Wait-what was the question?"_

"_How…are you?" I ask again, very awkwardly. _

"_Great! She chirps. " 'cept, today is the reaping, so it's bad-" she cuts herself off. "They're pulling the names!"_

"_Hullo, dears?" Lava Gold, our escort pipes. "Today is GRAND, is it not?" _

"_Ladies first, right?" He says, smiling his eyes off._

_I swear, everything he says is a question. _

_His hand hovers over the reaping ball. _

_Time stops. Life stops. Everything is frozen. _

"_Annie Cresta!"_

_The name echoes through the square, and hollow silence follows Lava's claps. _

_It takes me a moment to realize. _

_I am Annie Cresta._

_I have been reaped. _


End file.
